She was in active commission for the War of the English Succession, fighting in the Battles of Beachy Head and Barfleur.

[2] HMS Stirling Castle was ordered on 9 July 1678 to be built at Deptford Dockyard under the guidance of Master Shipwright John Shish.

[10][11] HMS Stirling Castle was commissioned in 1701 under the command of Captain John Johnson for service in Sir George Rooke's Fleet for operations at Cadiz, Spain.

[12] On 21 September it was learned that a French Fleet and Spanish treasure ships were in the vicinity of Vigo Bay.

[17] The wreck lies in 12.1 metres (40 ft) of water near the North Sand Head, Goodwin Knoll.

[15] The ship was in a remarkable state of preservation, possibly uncovered for the first time since she sank, and numerous artefacts were recovered in 1979-80.

[15] Scouring of the sand supporting the stern and port quarter led to their partial collapse in the winter of 1999–2000, and the structure has been further destabilised since then.

[15] In 2000 a team of divers successfully recovered a Demi-cannon, complete with its original gun carriage from the site.

[18] In 2002 a wooden fixed block was recovered that may provide evidence on the introduction of the ship's steering wheel, possibly during the refit of 1701.

[15] Richard Endsor has argued that the ship had both a steering wheel and the older whipstaff, thus Stirling Castle provides important evidence for the transition between these two mechanisms.

[15] HMS Stirling Castle was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 6 June 1980 by Statutory Instrument 1980/645.

[15] SI 2004/2395 in 2004 redesignated the protected area from a radius of 50 m to 300  around 51° 16.4561' N, 01° 30.4121' E.[15] The wreck has the National Monuments Record number of TR45NW24.

In 2016 Historic England published a report on the conservation work carried out on some of the surface recovered material from the wreck site.

[19] Daniel Defoe alleged that hundreds of sailors escaped onto sandbanks exposed at low tide, but the people of Deal were so busy salvaging goods after the storm that they left the survivors to drown.